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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 09 Hansard (Tuesday, 17 August 2004) . . Page.. 3765 ..

Clauses 19 to 25, by leave, taken together and agreed to.

Proposed new clause 25A.

MR WOOD (Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, Minister for Urban Services, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for Arts and Heritage, and Acting Minister for Health) (8.03): I move amendment No 13 circulated in my name which inserts a new clause 25A [see schedule 3 at page 3803]. This new clause will ensure that the Heritage Council consults with the community before making heritage guidelines. In particular, the Aboriginal community will be consulted about guidelines that affect Aboriginal heritage. Inevitably that would have been the case, but the government is happy to include that provision in the legislation.

MS DUNDAS (8.03): This amendment is one of many that were formulated as a result of consultation with crossbench members in this Assembly. I thank the government for facilitating consultation on this legislation last week and for its commitment—which is obvious in these amendments—to transparency and increasing community consultation.

MRS DUNNE (8.04): This important amendment will add considerably to the provisions in the bill. Opposition members have pointed out that, on a number of occasions, they have been confronted with a large number of new pieces of legislation and that they might never see regulations relating to that legislation in the life of this Assembly. The opposition has attempted to ensure that there are checks and balances in this process. While I have never thought of this approach as providing checks and balances, it is a useful way of ensuring that governments do not come up with a number of disallowable instruments that run unchecked for a long period. That would be the case if these guidelines were formulated in the next month or so and they were not given much attention until February or March next year.

MS TUCKER (8.05): This amendment will ensure that there is public consultation in the determination of heritage guidelines. The presumption is that the Heritage Council and the unit will put together the guidelines, presumably as they are expert in those things. This amendment reflects the fact that heritage is a social and cultural construction and not the preserve of experts. In the identification and management of heritage places and objects there must be dialogue between those who have been given responsibility for these matters, such as council and the unit, and the Aboriginal or wider community.

Proposed new clause 25A agreed to.

Clause 26.

MR WOOD (Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, Minister for Urban Services, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for Arts and Heritage, and Acting Minister for Health) (8.06): I move amendment No 14 circulated in my name [see schedule 3 at page 3803]. This amendment relates to an earlier amendment that I moved to clause 3. The words in this amendment focus on the need for the government to comply with guidelines. The injunction to conserve heritage places and objects has been moved to clause 3, where it will have greater prominence.

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